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Connacht 8 Cardiff 18: Connacht rue errors

SUDDENLY a Celtic League campaign that was rich with promise for Connacht before Christmas has become fraught with concern on the back of four successive losses. Worryingly for them, their European exploits appear to have distracted them from the bread and butter issues.

Having hyped this contest all week as crucial to furthering their prospects of playing in the Heineken Cup next season, Connacht proceeded to perform like a bunch of lemmings and, as a result of their error-laden display, Cardiff now lie only a point behind them in the table.

Connacht need to finish ahead of the bottom Welsh and Scottish sides to force a play-off with the third-placed finisher in the Italian league to earn the 24th qualifying spot for the Heineken Cup.

On this evidence, it will be a task beyond them — they were so comprehensively outplayed here, the mystery was that it took Cardiff almost 70